When the barnyard meets burlesque

Photo shoots are exhausting, they start early with hair and make up and finish with the peeling off of eyelashes and the hope that you 'got the shot.' I only do them occasionally and would hate to be a professional model, those girls work hard!

Complaints aside photo shoots are also a lot of fun and ont his one, designer Kristi was always on hand to offer a compliment, a glass of water or adjust the underwear!

Photographer Jess taking close up photos of the corset and knickers

The shoot was Kristi Robertson's label, Corsets by Nasty Ginny, she had previously shot some of the designs the day before, but on Saturday I was with fellow Tassie burlesque dancer Scarlett Jezebel.

Kristi used to design wedding dresses, I remember seeing her studio in 2001, racks of gorgeous dresses, big frothy concoctions and slimmer silohettes. Now after getting out of the wedding game Kristi designs and creates corsets, lingerie and costumes- and is still very capable of designing items that pull in, tuck up and froth over in the best way.

Corsets and lingerie ready for the shoot

This shoot featured some of her new designs that she sells online and at the MONA Market.

Kristi's stall at MOMA

Her studio is located on her property, a hobby farm that has grassy meadows, thick bush land, chickens and an elderly horse, Copper.

posing with Scarlett in Kristi's studio

 For the shoot, Kristi had set up a beautiful tea table in the bush complete with flowers from her garden, hot tea in the teapot and shiny red apples on the table.

tea with Scarlett Jezebel

We also did some shots down the road near a run down barn. I did some turns on the country road before we headed back to Kristi's home at which point she asked, very nicely, if one of us wouldn't mind modelling just one more costume... Scarlett and I looked at each other, both of us were hot and bothered by this point with a hen's party to go to in mere hours. "You can do it Masher's" said Scarlett I rewarded her with a grimace and then remembered Copper... "OK... But can I pose with the pony!??"

The pony is actually a 24 year old dark brown horse who roams freely around Kristi's land. I got changed and Kristi went horse hunting. Kristi felt certain she could lure Copper out of the trees but when she didn't succeed we took the shoot to Copper who viewed my offer of apples with disdain until I held one of them right under his nose!

After feeding Copper two apples I was ready to eat a few myself but instead welcomed a seat in Kristi's gorgeous home to have a quick drink and some cheese- once I'd removed my corset, I imagine the idiom "eats like a bird" was coined by some hapless woman from the Victorian era.

Posing with Scarlett and Kristi

You can find the final photos on Krisi's website

Flinging through Flinders

Arriving at Flinders!
L-R Stage manager Shelley, Lucy, Coco, Raine, Oopsy Daisy and Scarlett Jezebel

Flinders Island is a small chunk of land off the North East coast of Tasmania. The Island is part of the Furneaux group- over 50 tiny islands make up the grouping although most of the islands are uninhabited.
It was to Flinders Island and its 900 residents that we brought their first ever burlesque show!

Scarlett Jezebel organised the run list, three sets featuring three burlesque performances from Oopsy Daisy, Scarlett and me with the big haired, loud mouthed, Raine Ingmen emceeing and performing a couple of numbers and Shelley as our stage manager keeping things running behind the scenes.

We spent Friday night at my small house in Launceston, 2 to a bed and one to the couch.... Needless to say, none of us got to bed before midnight and most of us were awake at 4am so by 8am when Nat picked us up we were in desperate need of caffeine.

Our question when we met the event manager and our host, Nat at the airport was "is it ok to swear on stage." The answer was a definitive yes, which brought on a prattle of language from Raine that delighted the locals waiting in the small but comfortable airport

Nat took us for coffee at the local bakery in Whitemark- there are two, they sit opposite each other on the main road and apparently work in shifts, one open in the morning, the other in the afternoon!

Touring the Island with AJ and Oopsy

Oopsy Daisy with Coco at Trouser's Point on Saturday

We stopped at the Furneaux Tavern to drop off our bags and snag rooms which were in very comfortable cabins. Scarlett and I shared a two bedroom cabin whilst Raine, Shelley and Oopsy took a large room that could sleep six!
We spent a lot of our time going from the Tavern to another part of the Island and back again and rarely saw another car on the road but the Island itself is beautiful with mountain ranges, coast lines and rugged meadows.
 Nat continued our tour of Flinders by taking us on a  small fishing boat which took us past Cape Barron Island to an Island that is known to the locals as Russian Island. We walked up to a small house that is looked after by a caretaker- there were sheep on the Island and a small cemetery along with the remains of a post office. I jumped on the back of a 4x4 driven by Nat and Scarlett jumped behind Rockjaw and we were taken to the summit on Russian from which we could see all four sides of the horizon. The view was magnificent, azure blue water, white sand, red rock and on one side there was an old shipwreck, the Barque Farsund which was wrecked on a shoal in 1912, inaccessible by land but an amazing feature to spot from the summit.

 We got back, piled in the van and headed to Whitemark Hall for a lighting tech. AK who was our tech was very thorough and when he realised Oopsy was singing Machine Gun Fellatio's "Let me be your dirty fucking whore" he got pretty excited as he used to tour with the band! We headed back to the Tavern again do our hair and make up as although the hall had a great stage and light set up it lacked a dressing room.

Backstage with Oopsy Daisy (my costume: Corsets by Nasty Ginny)

Shelley and Scarlett getting cheeky with Raine

Scarlett as Mary Poppins

Showing off the sunburn we collected during the day! (Costume by Sonia Heap)

 The next day by unspoken mutual agreement we all slept in, but the sounds of birds scuffling on the roof and the beating rays of the sun got me up by 9am, so I grabbed a book and went to the Tavern's verandah- which overlooks the water-  to soak up the sun. Oopsy, Shelley and Raine joined me for breakfast and we heaped a plate with toast, butter, jam and a tea bag and burst upon Scarlett with Coco- singing- us, not Coco-  Scarlett emerged from under the covers to give us the evil eye- until we promised her coffee!

Oopsy and I covering up with  hats from the local shop

Braving the cold cold water at Trousers Point... It looks better than it feels!

Trouser's Point

We headed out to Trousers Point in the Furneaux Tavern's van. Nat had explained the Flinders wave to us, a two finger flick of acknowledgement that I did at every opportunity while behind the wheel. After an all too brief stop at Trousers Point we realised that time was running short and headed back to the Tavern.
Panicking slightly as time was running short we picked up a local at the Tavern, Browny who heaved in with two travellers- one in a pint glass- Nat wasn't too keen to have that much open grog in the car so he obliged by sculling one of the drinks and handing the glass back to an obliging local.
We drove out to Nat's to have a quick look at a baby wombat she was looking after- Tank's mum had been hit by a car, luckily they'd stopped and found Tank just behind her, safe.
Then we dropped Browny off after he spotted someone driving his ute! Apparently the locals like to 'borrow'each other's cars...

Tank the baby wombat

Tank!

We were way past the check in time by the time we got to the airport and were all thinking that we'd be spending another night on the Island. Happily they're an easy going bunch and we were reassured that we could fly.

Our tiny plane... Sharp airlines!

Finally, a huge thank you to my fellow cast members, to the Flinders community who made us so welcome, to the Furneaux tavern, particularly Nat Weaver and to Sharp Airlines for flying us over to a slice of Tasmanian paradise that we can promise had never seen a show quite like the one we gave them!

Pageant Queen at Miss Burlesque Tasmania 2013

About a year ago I asked a college friend if he had ever thought he would see me on stage, performing burlesque. The response was a firm "no." I was not known for wearing dresses or skirts, I didn't start wearing more than mascara until I was 22 and even then I had to get someone else to help me apply the extra pancake.

So, winning Miss Burlesque 2013 wasn't really on the cards. I think my face says it all...

I entered the competition after chatting to Grace Cherry who competed in 2012 and judged me the first time I competed in 2010. Her motivations appealed to me, the idea of polishing three acts, gaining video footage and challenging myself on the night.

Sarah Muir from Tasmania's Pole and Burlesque Academy in Moonah sponsored me, this sponsorship included free studio time, massages and even some fabric to costume the skirt wavers in my Sirenes act.
Sarah has always supported Tasmanian burlesque, she revived burlesque in Tasmania in 2007 with a group that included Miss Kitty's Meow's Grace Cherry and Tiger Lilly, The Diamond's of Burlesque Bebe Sparkle as well as myself.

The night itself started for the performers and crew at 1:30pm when we were allowed to clutter the changerooms with all manner of fantastic costumes and props. I shared a smaller dressing room with Grace Cherry, Oopsy Daisy and Velvet Sway. Above the door written in texta was 'the room of cock,' we liked it. The room was loud with laughter and chatter as well as my oft uttered "I'm so tired... I'm so hungry..." Velvet came to my rescue with some dried apricots!

Costumes ready to go



Grace Cherry, Velvet Sway and Oopsy Daisy backstage before the gown parade



Tech run went over time which led to some of us having a less than perfect run through but it was great to jump onto the Theatre Royal stage again, it really is a gorgeous space to perform in, there's something wonderful about standing in wings of heavy black velvet before you perform.

The theatre Royal from the stage!

Tiger Lilly was my hair and make up go to gal, we did a quick test prior to the competition and determined on a style that could evolve during the night. We did really well until my unique which required a lot of glue and glitter around my eyes,  after which it was hard to recover a flawless finish for the presentations at the end of the night!

Tiger Lilly

The actual competition started at 7pm, Missy de Meanour performed a classic act before making her way to the judging table. Then, the gown parade, picture ten nervous girls waiting side of stage for about 15 minutes. I attacked my walk, my gown was a little bit creased so whenever I stopped I would pick up the hem to show my foot or twist the skirt to make it less obvious.
The night was on, three hours of running from stage to room to the back up dancers room and back to the stage.
Classic was next, I already had my pasties on, so it was easy enough to change, yell a quick "chookas!!" to the other girls and then stride out onto the stage, a little nervous at first as I start with a slow walk, but then as the energy picked up I felt myself sinking into character, becoming bolder, remembering that really, it's just another show.
I finished with a fabulously deep back bend tassel twirl at the edge of the stage and flashed a brilliant grin to the audience.

Classic act

Neo was next, I enlisted my friend Jo to dress as a drag king and waltz me around the stage as we did a take off of Strictly ballroom. Tiger Lily swept my fringe up into a glitter strewn confection and painted my lips a frosty pink. For this act we were going back to the 80's!

With Jo aka Raoul de Silva before my neo act

We all had to run backstage and change for unique. Even though only five would get through you had to remain optimistic and be ready to go onstage. Bebe came backstage and drew the names in order of performance.

The five remaining finalists were: Velvet Sway, Lucy Sky Diamond, Miss BonnieVille Lulu L'Pearl and Grace Cherry.
A flurry of activity and then suddenly I was racing on to the darkened stage with my shrouded boys, Zeb and Dean. My tech run had been cut short so I was a little hesitant in my movement and looked down more than I normally would but my new head piece and Thai fingernails were something extra that I could play with and I relished the time I had on stage.

Photo by CezB photography

Photo by CezB Phtography

Finally I had to peel the glue off my face and do a 5 second dodgy make up retouch before returning to the stage for the presentation.

From L- R Grace Cherry, Oopsy Daisy, Lucy Sky Diamond, Velvet Sway and Miss Jaye backstage before presentation

I remember looking at the faces of the judges, I know I made eye contact with John X, Scarlett Jezebel and Missy de Meanour and to their credit they gave me no hint of what was to come!
I had hopes that I would make the top three but as someone who used to compete in gymnastics I was used to assuming that I had not carried off a routine to perfection and would therefore be lucky to place.
Miss Bonnie Ville standing behind me won the Miss Burlesque Tasmania Ambassador Award, Grace Cherry was then announced as the second runner up followed by Miss Bonnie Ville as first runner up.

Grace Cherry is announced as the Second Runner Up

 Bebe then announced my name and the next couple of minutes are lost to the screams of the audience and my fellow performers, I know someone was hugging me from behind and then I had to walk out to be crowned. Missy helped me when my crown would not stay on, saying she'd had the same problem last year!

Going into protection mode as Oopsy Daisy attacks me with hugs!

Missy adjusting my crown

I was crowned, sashed and handed a brown paper bag which contained a prize from one of the sponsors. My only regret was being unable to thank the audience, the judges and the other performers instead I stood there and smiled uncertainly, gestured towards the other girls and smiled some more!
Finally the curtain dropped and again I was engulfed by arms and cheers!!

With Jo backstage, Jo aka Raoul de Silva is my partner in my neo act!

After a quick pack up and drink with some of the crew I headed to Ivory Bar in Hobart for a celebratory drink, my crown was borrowed and then scarily, my foot was kissed.
With Great power comes great responsibility and apparently foot kissing. I see many manicures in my future.

I'll be updating the blog in the months leading up to the Miss Burlesque Grand Finals held in Melbourne on May 24 with photos, more of my vintage costumes and backstage gossip!
xx

The Australian Burlesque Festival 2012 (Melbourne)

When you live in Tasmania, you tend to hear a lot about flight delays. It's a topic of conversation that arises as often as the weather so it was no surprise when my flight to Melbourne for the Australian Burlesque Festival touched down two hours late.
A quick trip on the Skybus to Southern Cross Station and a run across the street to Vibe Savoy Hotel where I disturbed a drowsy Oopsy Daisy, my room mate for the weekend.

Oopsy Daisy had performed that evening and was crashing after being on a performance high. Baby Bombshells is the first official night of the Festival featuring up and coming performers in a friendly competition. The prize is a spot in the Big Tease, ABF's classic burlesque showcase, in Melbourne.
Oopsy had been first up and distinguished herself by tripping on to the stage in front of some of her idols,the judges, Peekaboo Pointe, Anna Fur Laxis and Tasia. Her drowsiness was only second to her anxiety over her trip up the stage!

On Friday morning we broke fast at Kinfolk, a local cafe staffed by volunteers on bourke street. Cheap and tasty and after I questioned our waitress intently, we found that the staff are more than happy to work as volunteers although I think the free coffees they score keep them going!

Oopsy Daisy at Kinfolk

Kinfolk

We mooned around Melbourne before I whipped my hair up, packed a bag and boarded a train to Thornbury where I was performing in the Thornbury Theatre as part of ABF's Empress Erotique show.
I loved the blue facade of the theatre which sat on the main strip.

Thornbury Theatre

The tech run was delayed  which gave us plenty of time to relax back stage...

Backstage refreshments

Backstage at Empress Erotique with Coppelia Jane

Everyone gets ready differently, some of us plug our ears and rehearse, some get into the zone, but Lola the Vamp I caught having a nap on the couch- no pre performance nerves for her!
The backstage area was a large airy function room lined with floor to ceiling mirrors
 To get to the Green room we had to exit a side door, bypass the kitchen and mount some stairs.

Lola the Vamp ready to go!

Performing Sirenes at Empress Erotique

Raven in the Green room

Betty Blood keeping it clean for the censors

I quickly changed into a white sequin maxi dress from the Chelsea flea markets in NYC during the interval to watch the second half from the front- not before jumping behind the merch table to give Miss Jane a hug. We met at the Perth International Burlesque Festival in May. Jane performed in the Big Tease at the Hi Fi the following night.

With Miss Jane Doe behind the merch table

Saturday was a slow day of shopping, walking and coffee with the girls from Miss Kitty's Meow who were there to support their third, Oopsy Daisy (and I like to think me too!)
We got ourselves dolled up and caught a tram up to Flinders st to join the line for The Big Tease at the Hi Fi. Headliners Lou Lou D'Vil, Miss La Vi Da and Anne Fur Laxis were easily my favourites of the night. We headed back to the hotel after the show, Melbourne was settling in for a long night of drizzling rain and we had early flights back to Hobart!

Showing off a Moro Landis showgirl costume

Moro Landis was a Vegas based production company formed by George Moro and Ruth Landis, two young Vaudeville dancers. The company was housed in a large building which had rehearsal studios, sewing and set rooms. Everything was made in house, acts were choreographed and costumes such as the two below were designed and made.

Moro Landis dance troupes performed all over the country and were resident dancers at the Sahara and the El Rancho in Las Vegas.

Photo by Bret Salinger

Photo by Bret Salinger

1973 film starring Kim Novak and Tony Curtis 'Third Girl From the Left' apparently featured Moro Landis costumes

The fringing is a little faded but the actual construction has no obvious faults, no rips, tears or breakaways.

The feather boa trim is in good condition

Moro Landis Production label.

Side view

Similar costume on Ebay 2006

I also purchased a Moro Landis show girl costume from a different seller.
It's a two piece black sequined corset with matching ostrich feather and tulle skirt. This one's currently in storage as it's very delicate and faded.

The purple chiffon is faded and a bit dirty but I love the contrast it would have made

The feathers are more of a dull grey than deep black and the sequined appliques are falling off in some sections